Well-known Member

Anyone gone with a sat nav set up on the above or similar PDA ?
Was considering the TomTom 3 kit wired/bluetooth.
Can anyone give the pros/cons of wired V bluetooth in this set up.
Bluetooth seems to be about £20 dearer, but is it reliable ?. Any other options.

Distinguished Member

I have recently tried this on an Ipaq & found it very poor. The main problem in my experience was that the mapping data is hopelessly out of date. On the first journey I plotted it was unaware of the re-routing of the A134 that opened in June 2003. Now obviously no map is ever going to be 100% current but what was particularly disappointing was that when I reported this error to Tom Tom their response was one of "nothing to do with us, you need to report the error to the mapping company (TeleAtlas)".

The error was reported & an enquiry raised with TeleAtlas as to how they resolve these errors. After a week they hadn't replied so I e-mailed all the contacts listed on their web site. To date there has been no response whatsoever. As TeleAtlas supply mapping data to a lot of other manufacturers, it would be reasonable to assume that they are all flawed in the same way.

The second journey attempted showed that the map was unaware of the existence of another major A road re-route (A130). This opened in February 2003. Just before posting this I made one final check on the renaming of another A road. I don't know exactly when the A604 was redesignated the A1124 but it is accurately shown on my 2001 paper atlas. Tom Tom still thinks it's the A604.

Now it may just be that I am very unlucky but I have also heard reports that chunks of the M6 are also unbknown to Tom Tom. I have even been told that roads that existed in Tom Tom 2 have mysteriously disappeared in V3!

I also found the Tom Tom look-up facility for finding locations deeply flawed. It is possible to obtain a 3rd party, full post code finder that does a much better job. If you're happy to buy a dog & bark yourself, go for it. You've just got to ask yourself one question - do you feel lucky?